Melinda Rosenberg

Fall 2000

MW 6:00-7:15

FAO 296

Orexis@aol.com

Office: FAO 244

974-5870

Office Hours: MW 5:00-6:00

This is a 1000 level philosophy course designed to teach you how to properly construct and evaluate arguments. This course has informal logic as one of its underpinnings, and we will be surveying pertinent material in the textbook throughout the semester. This course will enable you to spot common fallacies and other errors in argumentation that occur in ordinary language. This course will also show you how to formulate sounds arguments of your own.

Critical Thinking, Brooke Noel Moore and Richard Parker, 6^th ed, (Mayfield Publishing Co.) 2001.

Study Guide to Accompany Moore and Parker’s Critical Thinking, Nickolas Pappas (Mayfield Publishing Co.) 2001

Various readings to be handed out for your second paper - TBA

Assigned readings in the text

Assigned exercises from the text

Two 5-7 page papers - any paper turned in later than the required date of submission will be dropped 1/3 a letter per day. 1^st paper due October 11^th, 2^nd paper due December 6.

Attendance – you will be allowed two excused absences from class. Any further absences will result in the lowering of your grade by 2% for each subsequent absence

Participation in class

1^st Paper – 45%

2^nd Paper – 45%

Attendance and Participation – 10%

Your final grade will predominately reflect the two grades you will receive from your papers, however, participation and attendance will certainly enhance your final grade.

Chapter One – What is Critical Thinking?, pp. 3-38.

Chapter Two – Critical Thinking and Clear Writing, pp. 40-78

Chapter Three – Evaluating Informative Claims, pp. 79-116

Chapter Four – Persuasion Through Rhetoric, pp. 118-148

Chapter Five – More Rhetorical Devices, pp. 149-174

Chapter Six – More Pseudoreasoning and Other Rhetorical Ploys, 175- 216

Chapter Seven – Explanations, pp. 217-258

Chapter Nine – Deductive Arguments Part I: Categorical Logic, pp. 293-301, pp. 310-317

Chapter Ten – Deductive Arguments Part II: Truth Functional Logic, pp. 334-370

Chapter Thirteen – Moral, Legal, and Aesthetic Reasoning, pp. 467-502

This outline is tentative and subject to change. And no, you will not be required to do every exercise in the book!